ESA to present two new satcom projects at Paris Air and Space Show
On 21 June, at the airshow in Le Bourget, France, ESA will unveil two new satcom initiatives, Govsatcom Precursor and Satellites for 5G.
The event will start at 11:15 CEST in the ESA Space Pavillion with a welcome from Jan Woerner, ESA’s Director General. Full programme here.
Govsatcom Precursor for governmental satellites, responds to the growing need in Europe for secure communications to the benefit of its citizens, in applications such as crisis management and maritime safety.
Satellites for 5G aims to reinforce the role of satellites in the next generation communications network, in markets such as transport, media and entertainment and public safety.
Both initiatives are industry-driven and defined as public–private partnerships with ESA.
ESA will present the Govsatcom Precursor programme, a first step to demonstrate how European space industry can support the EU’s Govsatcom initiative, which aims to pool and share governmental and commercial satellite services to provide secure and guaranteed access to satcom for a wide range of governmental applications.
Satellite operators and service providers will present the first precursor public–private partnerships, PACIS-1 and PACIS-5. These projects will develop secure mission control systems and operations centres and demonstrate the benefits of pooling and sharing to the users in the field, including Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS).
Five more PACIS projects have been defined as part of a future federation of demonstration projects in the 2017–20 timeframe. The federation will represent most of European satellite operators and service providers and a wide range of use cases. The ESA Govsatcom Precursor programme will be implemented in synergies with the Govsatcom demonstrations planned by the European Defence Agency (EDA).
ESA will then introduce its efforts, together with satellite industry, to develop and demonstrate the added value that satellites bring in the context of 5G in facilitating pan-European and global coverage, resilience, mobility and security for the provision of 5G services and as an enabler of innovative infrastructure and services.
A joint statement on ‘Satellite for 5G’ will be signed by Magali Vaissiere, ESA Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications, and representatives from 17 satellite operators, service providers and manufacturers.
This joint statement presents a strategic vision of the role of satellites within future 5G networks, the mobile communications service of the coming decade. It paves the way for the definition of a wider ESA PPP framework, in consultation and agreement with ESA Member States and in coordination with initiatives of the European Commission as well as on a national level. The joint statement advocates further convergence between European industry and institutions on 5G, which will also be reiterated at the ESPI-ESA Conference on 'Space and Satcom for 5G: European Transport and Connected Mobility' on 27–28 June.
